Regulator control circuit



Oct. l, 1940. o. P. MccARTY REGULATOR CONTROL CIRCUIT Filed Aug. 27, 1937 T/Mf DELAY 23 RELAY a U .E 7 n Mx. 32 IIIUXIMNN A L 2. U I, L.. l. N

Inventor. Crm 10. McCart b5 JMW Hm Attorney Patented Oct. l, l940 l'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,216,596 l aaGULa'roa coN'raoL CIRCUIT Orin P. McCarty, Pittsfield, Mass., assigner to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York appueauon mmm z'z, 1937, serial N6. 161,261

l iz claims. My invention relates to regulator control circuits and more particularly'to improvements in time delay control circuits-for automatic elec- `trical regulators.

v This is a continuation-in-part of Amy application, Serial No. 112,698, filed November 25, 1936, which in turn is a" division of my application, Serial No. 93,046, illed July 28, 1936, and assigned vto the assignee of the present application. The

1Q. parent case is directed to a time delay circuit per se and the division is directed to a regulator control circuit having as an element thereof the time delay circuit of the parent case. The principal new feature of the present case is the slml pliiled regulator time delay control circuit illus-v trated in Fig. 4. v

It is'often desirable to provide certain automatic lregulators with time delay control circuits so as to prevent unnecessary operation of the regulator when the regulated quantity is subject to relatively rapid and small fluctuations. Heretoiore, the time delay element has been of the,

motor operated type involving relatively numerous" and expensive moving parts. In some cases it.has been energized in accordance with the Vmagnitude of the regulated quantity so as to produce a time delay which varies inversely with the magnitude iof this quantity.

In accordance with my` invention I provide a novel and simple time delay control circuit which, with the exception of standard magnetic relays or contactors, has noI moving parts, is very simple and inexpensive in construction and maintains its setting indefinitely.

35 An object of my invention is'to provide a new and improved regulator control circuit.

Another object ofmy invention is to provide a newvand improved time delay control circuit for electrical regulators.

,o a further object of my invention 1s to provide' a new combination of electrical regulator and f time delay relay.

' My invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection 5 with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In vthe drawing, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic showing of an embodimentof my invention combined with an automatic transformer `tap changing step 50 voltage regulatory Fig. 2 shows the operating 4characteristic of the time delay relay of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a modification of the time delay relay of Fig. l, and Fig. 4 is a simpliiled modification of F18. 1. f 6 Referring now to the drawing and more par.

ticularly to Fig. l, my time delay relay is shown in the box I. 'Ihe time delay relay is inserted in a control circuit 2 for an automatic regulator i.

2 connected to be energized in response to the 15 gulated voltage of the circuit 4 by means of an auxiliary winding I0 on the regulating autotransformer. Under the control of the voltage-sensitive device 8 are auxiliary "raise and "lower relays II and I2 which are connected to beenergized from the auxiliary winding vIll through the contacts of the device 9. The raise relay II has a set of contacts Il, which, when closed by the operation of the relay, connect to a te l Il of the motor 8 for causing it to rotate i 're- 25 verse direction and lower relay I2 has a set of contacts Il which, when closedby the operation of 4relay I2;make aconnection to a terminal Il lof motor 8 for causing it to rotate in a forward direction. The common, or return terminal I'I of the motor [has a circuit through it completed by f a set of contacts Il on a relay I 9 forming part of the'time delay relay. Auxiliary relays Il -and I2 also have electrically parallel contacts 26 and 2l' respectively which, whenever either relay II 35 or relay I2 is energized, complete av circuit for energizing va relay 22 from across the auxiliary winding I6. Relay 22 also forms a part of the time delay relay.

The time ,delay relay, inq addition to the relays II and 22, includes a saturable core reactor 2l and a rectii'ler 26. 'I'he main circuit through the time delay relay is a lseries one which, starting 'at a pair of contacts 24 on the relay 22, includes the alternating current windingor windings 26 `45 of the reactor, the upper input terminal of the rectiiler 2l, the left-hand output terminal of rectiiler 26, another set of contacts 21 on the relay 22, a direct current saturating winding 2l for the reactor, the right-hand output terminal/of the rectifier, the remaining input terminal of the rectifier and the operating'winding of the relay I9. As shown, this circuit is arranged to be connected by means of the contacts 2l and 2l of the auxiliary relays II and I2 across the auxiliary 55 winding i0 of the regulating transformer. In addition to the above elements the time delay relay is also provided with an adjustable resistance 29 which is connectedacross the rectifier output terminals and which is provided for the purpose of adjusting the time delay setting `of the relay. There is also provided a second adjustable resistor 30 which is connected to bypass the reactor and rectiner andwhich serves to improve the operation of the time delay relay in a manner which will be described in connection Y with the operation of Fig. 1.

The parts are shown in Fig. l in the positions they occupy when the output voltage of the regulated power circuit 4 is normal.

The operation of Fig. 1 is as follows: If the regulated output voltage of circuit 4 departs from normal the voltage of the auxiliary winding I0 will change correspondingly thereby causing the contact-making voltmeter 9 to close its "raise or lower contacts depending upon whether the voltage has decreased or increased, respectively. This will cause the proper auxiliary relay to be operated so as to make a connection enabling motor 8 to turn in the proper direction to cause the tap-changing switch 1 to move so as to vary the ratio of the regulating transformer in'such a manner to restore the voltage to normal. Motor 8 cannot start, however, until the contacts i8 of the relay I 9 close and these contacts will not close for a predetermined time determined by the setting of the time delay relay, provided that the contact-making voltmeter has been making contact throughout this time delay interval. Operation of either one of the auxiliary relays also serves, through the closure of either contacts 20 or contacts 2 i to connect the time delay relay across the auxiliary winding l0.'

The time delay relay operates in the following manner: As soon as it is connected across the winding l0 the relay 22 closes its contacts 24 and 2l. This completes the series circuit through the reactor windings, the rectifier 28 and the winding of relay l0. The alternating current winding 25 of the saturable core reactor initially has a relatively high reactance as its core is unsaturated. Consequently, the current through the relay winding I9 will be insuilicient to cause operation of the relay. However, the small amount of current which does flow in the circuit, while ilowing through the direct current saturating winding 28, begins to saturate the core with the result that the reactance of the alternating current winding is decreased. This action is cumulative because as soon as the reacvtance of the alternating current winding dethe contact making voltmeter will again become balanced in its mid-position, the auxiliary relay will drop out thereby causing relay 22 to drop out, therebydeenergizing the time delay relay and causing the relay Il to drop out and reset the time delay relay. l

The rate at which unidirectional tlux in the core of the saturable reactor builds up is determined by the adjustment of the resistor 28. The lower this resistance the more direct current through the rectifier is by-passed from the direct.

current saturating winding 28 and the longer it takes for the time delay relay to operate, while the higher the value of this resistance the shorter the time interval of the time Vdelay relay.

The resistance 30 serves to permit a certain amount of current to flow through the relay winding i9 immediately upon the closure of the contacts 24 because this resistance by-passes the reactor. By properly adjusting this resistance the amount of the current ilowing through it can be made insuihcient to cause operation of the relay so that the reactor need only control the marginal amount of additional current necessary for causing the relay I9 to operate. In this manner less duty is required of the saturating circuit and greater time delays can be secured with a given size of reactor. Resistance I0 also causes the time delay characteristic of the relay to be such that for voltages above a predetermined value'the response of the relay is substantially instantaneous while for voltages below another value the time delay is continuous and the relay l! never closes its contacts. Both these features are very desirable. The instantaneous response on over-voltage feature is desirable because overvoltage is usually more serious than under-voltage due to the danger of destruction to apparatus, and consequently it is desirable that serious over-voltage be corrected as quickly as possible. The second feature is desirable because it takes the place of the usual low voltage release or cutout provided in such regulating systems. In an ordinary voltage regulator when serious undervoltage occurs for any reason, such for example as a short circuit on the line, the regulating apparatus will of course try to restore the voltage to normal by running the regulator toits highest 'a low-voltage release or cutout which upon the occurrence of predetermined under-voltage prevents the regulator from being run to its maximum raise position. However, because of the second above-mentioned feature of my time delay relay no such auxiliary low-voltage release is necessary because upon the occurrence o! this under-voltage the time delay automatically becomes indennite or continuous so that no regulating action takes place under these conditions. Upon restoration of voltage the regulator will be in the position it was in before the under-voltage occurred and thus the production of serious overvoltage on the circuit by the regulator is prevented.

In Fig.'2 the vertical dot and dash line represents the characteristics of an ordinary fixed time delay relay set for 20 seconds. With such a relay the time delay is the same for all values of voltage. The dashed curve represents the inverse time. delay which would be secured by the `time delay relay of Fig. 1 if it were not provided with the resistance I0. 'Die full line characteristie is the characteristic of the time delay relay of Fig. 1. It will be apparent with `the values chosen by way of illustration in Fig. 2 that for voltages above 13,5 volts the time delay is zero. Below 135 volts the time delay starts at, about 15 seconds and increases rapidly to about' 30 seconds at a. voltage of about 100. For voltages below 100 the curve fiattens out and becomes horizontal so that there is a continuous time delay and the relay doesnot operate for voltages below 100. By adjusting the value of theresistance 3l the upper and lower voltage limits of the characteristic may be changed while by adjusting the resistance 29 the steepness of the inverse characteristic portion of the curve and therefore the amount of time delay may be adjusted at will.

In Fig. 3 the time delay circuit is shown provided with an additional set of control contacts Il interposed between the rectifier on the one hand and the direct current saturating winding 2l and the resistor 2l on the other hand. Control of the time delay circuit by the contacts 24 or 21 or 3i or various combinations of these contacts produce diilerent operating characteristics of the time delay circuit as follows: (1) If the contacts 24 -and 2| are maintained closed and the circuit is controlled by closing and opening contacts 21 there will be a definite time delay between the closing of contacts 21 and the energization of the relay windingy I9 in the manner previously described. When the ycontacts 21 are opened the'time delay relay will immediately reset and relay winding I2 will immediately be deenergized. There will be complete resetting each time the contacts 21 open so lthat even for the extreme case where the contacts of the contact-making voltmeter chatter the contacts will have to stay closedy for the full time delay period before the regulator will operate. (2) If now the control is by contacts Il and contacts `24 and 21 are kept closed there will be the usual time delaybetween the closerate.

alone and contacts 21 and Il remain closed ing of contacts 2| and the operating of the relay i9. However, upon opening of the contacts Il there will be a time delay in the drop out of the relay I0. This is because of the appreciable time constant of the loop circuit containing the direct current winding 2l and the resistance 29, which maintains the fiuxin the core of the reactor for an appreciable periodv after the contacts 2l open. This keeps the impedance of the reactor low yenough.. for an appreciable time, so that. the leakage current through the rectifier 2lv plus the current.

through the bridging resistor Il willhold the relay it closed. However, because of the presence of the loop circuit the unidirectional flux in the core` of the reactor tends to build up if the contacts 2l are intermittently opened and closed so that in the case of chattering of the main control contacts the relay il will eventually op- (3) When the control is by contacts 24 intermittent operation or chattering of the main control Vcontacts 'will eventually cause operation oi' the relay I9. y

In Fig. 1 it.is the contacts 21 of relay 22 which give the time delay relay` its time delay closing, instantaneous drop-out characteristic with no build-up of'ilux'with chattering contact control However, because of and contacts 24 which are operated simultaneously with contacts 21 prevent the losses in the resistance 30 and relay winding I8 which otherwise would take place'due to the fact that resistance I by-passes the reactor and thereby in effect by-passes the contacts 21.

If desired the rangeand sharpness of control of the time delay relay may be increased by connecting a capacitor 22 in parallel with the relay I8 as shown in Fig. 1. The capacitor is so related to the reactance of the time delay relay circuit that when the saturable core reactor is fully saturated, series resonance will occur there- `by producing maximum current through the capacitor and maximum voltage drop across it. At

other times when the reactor is 'not' fully sat-- urated, the circuit becomes dissonant and the decrease in current through itis relatively greater lthan the increase in' impedance ofthe reactor.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4, substantially the same results as are secured by Fig. 1 may be secured without using the' relay Il and the contacts'2ilvand 2l lof the raise and lower relays Il and I2` respectively. This is accomplished by connecting the saturable time delay element in a common return conductor for the raise" and lower relays Ii and I2.

Conventional holding .coils I3 and J4 on the contact-making voltmeter 9 are connected r'espectively in parallel with the raise and lower relays Ii and I2. These holding coils consequently are energized whenever the contactmaking voitmetermakes contact and tend to hold the meter in its contact-making position thereby to prevent chattering and sparking of the contacts.

The general operation of Fig. 4 is the same as Fig.- `1 Aexcept that the time delay relay current passes through the contact-making voltmeter contacts and the raise and lower relays II and i2 have a time delayed responsev to the closing of the contact-making vvolttxieter the time delayl element. Thus, for example, if the voltage of circuit 4 is too low the contactmaking voltmeter l will close a set of contacts completing a` circuit through the raise relay and the time delay element in series. -After a predetermined time required to saturate the core of the reactor the raise relay will close thereby completing a circuit through the contacts il to the motor which causes the motor to turn in such a direction as tocause the regulator to raise the voltage. A similar delayed action will take place in the energization oi' the lowering relay i2 in case the voltage circuit 4 is too high.

It will also be noted that in Fig( 4, the two sections' of the alternating current winding 2l of thereactor are connected in parallel instead of in series as infFigs. 1 and 3. It has been found that both the series and parallel connections give good results.

`contacts vbecause their return circuit is through Y -While- I have shown and described particular embodiments of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatchanzes and modifications can be made in my invention with- `out departing therefrom and I, therefore, aim in the Jappended claims tocover all such changes and modincations as fall within the true spiri control circuit therefor, and a variable impedance electroresponsive static time delay element connected in'said control circuit for causing a suba direct current saturating winding the current in which is controlled by the impedance of the alternating current windin'gof said reactor which is connected in said control circuit.

3. In combination, an automatic regulator of a variable quantity, a control circuit for said regulator, a time delay relay in said control circuit, and means for causing the time delay of said relay to vary inversely with the magnitude of the regulated quantity up to a predetermined high value of said quantity above which the time delay relatively abruptly disappears.

4. In combination, an automatic regulator of a variable quantity, a control circuit for said regulator, a time delay relay in said control circuit, and means for causing the time delay of said relay to vary inversely with the magnitude of the regulated quantity down to a predetermined low value of said quantity below which the time delay is continuous whereby the regulator is prevented from raising the regulated quantity when it is below said predetermined low value.

5. In combination, an automatic regulator of a variable quantity and means for introducing a time delay in the action of said regulator which varies inversely with the magnitude of the regulated quantity between an upper limit with substantially no time delay and a lower limit with continuous time delay.

6. In an electrical regulator having a reversible motor with a forward terminal, a reverse terminal and a common terminal, a time delay relay having time delay closing contacts in series with said common terminal, aset of lower contacts for completing a connection to said forward terminal and to said relay, and a set of raise contacts for completing connections to said reverse terminal and to said relay.

7. In combination, an alternating current circuit, means for varying the voltage of said,clrcuit, a reversible motor for operating said means, a primary relay responsive to the voltage of said circuit, means under the control of said primary relay for controlling the starting, stopping and reversing of said motor, and a static saturable reactor type time delay element connected in circuit with said means for delaying the response thereof to said primary relay.

8. In combination, an alternating current cir cuit, means for varying the voltage of said circuit, a reversible motor for operating said means, a primary relay connected to respond to the voltage of said circuit, separate raise and lower relays having a common return circuit connected to control the starting, stopping and reversing of said motor, said relays being connected so as to be controlled by said primary relay, a full wave rectifier having direct current output terminals and having alternating current input terminals connected in said common return conductor, and a saturable core reactor having an alternating current winding connectedV in series with the 'alternating current input terminals of said rectifier and having a direct current saturating winding connected across the direct output terminals of said. rectifier.

9. In combination, an alternating current circuit, means for regulating the voltage of said circuit, a reversible motor for operating said means, a primary relay responsive to the voltage of said circuit, a pair of raise and lower relays under the control of said primary relay for making and breaking star-ting, stopping and reversing connections of said motor, said raise and lower relays having a common return conductor, and a static variable impedance type time delay element connected in said common return conductor.

l0. In an automatic regulating system, a reversible motor for operating a regulator, a primary relay having separate raise and lower. contacts, a set of auxiliary raise and lower" relays having contacts for controlling directly starting, stopping and reversing connections for said motor and having windings which are connected directly to be controlled by the raise" and "lower contacts of said primary relay, said raise and lower relays having a common return circuit, and a common time delay element in said common return circuit for said "raise" and lower relays.

11. In combination, an electric circuit, an automatic voltage regulator for said circuit, a control circuit for said regulator, and a static time delay element comprising a self-saturated reactor connected in said control circuit.

12. In combination, an alternating current power circuit, an automatic voltage regulator for raising and lowering the voltage of said circuit in response to departure of the voltage of said circuit from a predetermined normal value, and means including a static time delay element for delaying the operation of said regulator in both raising and lowering directions, said time delay element containing a saturable core reactor having an alternating current winding and a direct current winding connected in series by means of a full wave rectifier.

' ORIN P. MCCAR'IY. 

